Poll Your favorite live-action Supermen

[The Realist]

Like the title says. This poll permits multiple choices, partly so Christopher Reeve doesn't just take the whole damn thing, partly to see which other actors people might favor in the role.

The idea is to choose the actors you think basically nailed the character. I have some affection for everybody who's ever played the man (or boy) of steel, but for me, only four to date have hit it out of the park: Reeves, Reeve, Routh, and Hoechlin. So only those four get my votes, even though I love 'em all more or less. So who are your favorites?

 

[Tosk]

I voted Reeve (of course) but I really feel like Cavill could be an amazing Superman if given the right material. He's more Superman in interviews than he gets to be in the movies.

 

[DigificWriter]

My votes went to Cain, Cavill, and Hoechlin.

 

[theenglish]

I voted for Reeve, Cain, and Hoechlin. Hoechlin really impressed me last year--so much so that I wish he had his own series.
Dean Cain wasn't really a great Superman, but he was a fantastic Clark Kent.

 

[Kane_Steel]

Reeve and Routh are the only ones who really make the Clark/Reporter Clark/Superman dynamic work.

Dean Cain was an embarrassment. He played Clark and Supes exactly the same.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Well, weren't they all great in their own way? Given that, I limited my votes to three, Reeve, Reeves and Hoechlin. Cavill would have been fourth.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

I voted Cavill and Routh. I haven't seen enough of Reeve to say for certain where I would rank him, but what I have seen did not amaze me to the point of making me want to see more. I also haven't seen any of the ones before him at all (nor the ones between him and Dean Cain), so... grain of salt I guess.

Of those I've seen, I thought Dean Cain was entertaining when I was a kid. As an adult I find him pretty much insufferable. Tom Welling was fine for a show like Smallville, but nothing special. Routh was good, imo, but just let down by the movie. Cavill is fantastic in MoS, even though it has some writing issues. He couldn't save BvS or JL, but no one could have.

Hoechlin was outright terrible.

 

[Kirk Prime]

Cavill didn't even play Superman. He played a guy that wore a similar costume and had similar powers.

 

[Relayer1]

Reeve naturally, Routh who I thought was fantastic and very underrated, and Cavill, who seems to be doing well in adverse circumstances.

 

[Ovation]

Cavill and Reeve are tied for me, each perfectly encapsulating the Superman of their respective eras.

Reeves is a sentimental favourite from my youth.

The rest are meh (or, in some cases, I haven’t seen).

 

[BillJ]

Cavill.

 

[tomswift2002]

Reeves, Reeve, Newton, Christopher and Cain. Allen was good, however because he didn’t do any flying it’s hard to compare on the front. Welling, was so-so; if he’d been given better scripts than the filler stuff, maybe. Routh I found was trying way to hard to emulate Reeve. Cavill, if he’d get better scripts than “Superman glares at Metropolis”and Hoechlin I have never heard of.

 

[Kane_Steel]

I'm willing to bet Cavill will be forgotten by the general audience in a decade from now.

Was looking at a Buzzfeed poll of general audience reactions to the DCEU and their apathy towards his Superman is quite telling:
https://www.buzzfeed.com/DarthFreds...pinons-2j1dk?utm_term=.dlGVXM7EM6#.vro86KOeKP


Sadly, the definitive Superman for this generation that takes on the mantle from Chris Reeve is yet to come.

For now, even modern audiences will likely put the Chris Reeve Supes on top.

 

[Galileo7]

1. Cavill
2. Reeve
3. Routh
4. Welling

 

[DigificWriter]

Cavill is only trailing Reeve by 6 votes, which is impressive for somebody whom some people keep insisting is a poor Superman.

 

[The Lensman]

I voted Cavil. He's the first guy who looks like Superman as he's got the body to match the comics version. Unlike the other "guy at a mall in a Superman suit" that's been every actor before him. Reeve was okay, but I wasn't impressed with him as a kid, less so now. Hoechlin was straight up shit.

 

[Kane_Steel]

Cavill is only trailing Reeve by 6 votes, which is impressive for somebody whom some people keep insisting is a poor Superman.

Among 20 random nerds on an obscure message board.

So impressive, lol.

Meanwhile general audiences are completely apathetic to Cavill's Superman.

 

[Tom Hendricks]

My choice isn't one of the choices, my favorite is Ben Affleck as George Reeves in Hollywoodland.

 

[JD]

Reeves, Reeve, Newton, Christopher and Cain. Allen was good, however because he didn’t do any flying it’s hard to compare on the front. Welling, was so-so; if he’d been given better scripts than the filler stuff, maybe. Routh I found was trying way to hard to emulate Reeve. Cavill, if he’d get better scripts than “Superman glares at Metropolis”and Hoechlin I have never heard of.

Tyler Hoechlin is Supergirl's Superman.
I voted for Reeves, Reeve, and Hoechlin.
Reeves and Reeve were great for their time, and I think combined are pretty much the perfect Superman.
Hoechlin hasn't been in a ton of Supergirl, but I thought what we got of him was great.
Cavill has given good performances, but he just isn't my ideal Superman.
I liked Welling in Smallville, but he technically never actually played Superman until the very last scene of the finale.

 

[Mudd]

Cavill and Reeves.